NASA delays the first flight of the Martian helicopter Ingenuity until April 14

The small helicopter was landed after the test ended ahead of schedule, reports say newsky.com.ua with reference to space.

NASA's Mars Ingenuity helicopter in the lens of the Perseverance rover after unlocking the ego blades on April 7, 2021. (©NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU)

NASA postponed the first flight of its Martian helicopter Ingenuity after the last test of the device ended earlier than planned.

According to the agency's statement, "Invention" will now be firmly anchored on the surface of the Red Planet until at least Wednesday (April 14). The delay was caused by an anomaly during the test, which could be seen when the helicopter's blades reach a flight speed of 2400 revolutions per minute.

"During the high-speed test of the rotors on Friday, the sequence of commands controlling the test ended prematurely due to the expiration of the 'watchdog' timer," NASA officials wrote in a statement on April 10. "It happened when he tried to switch the on-board computer from the "Pre-flight" mode to the "Flight" mode. The helicopter is safe and sound, and its full telemetry has been transmitted to Earth."

The Perseverance rover captured this image of the Ingenuity helicopter during preflight training on April 9, 2021 (©NASA / JPL-Caltech / ASU)

The statement also says that helicopter engineers are still studying the data obtained from the small helicopter to understand exactly what happened, but the team hopes to move the failed test.

"Invention" arrived on the surface of Mars on February 18, having crossed to the Red Planet as a technological demonstration project of NASA's Perseverance rover, the size of a car. After the rover settled down on the landing pad in the Lake crater, it began to search for an airfield for the historic helicopter flight. Arriving there, the rover began the careful process of unfolding and deploying the 1,8 kg helicopter.

Then "Inventiveness" had to overcome several stages, including surviving the cold Martian night on its own, using energy obtained from solar panels. Engineers also unlocked the helicopter's blades and checked them at low speed, only 50 revolutions per minute.

On Friday (April 9), the helicopter tried to test its blades at full speed, which was the last harbinger of flight, but this procedure was interrupted by a watchdog timer.

"The watchdog timer monitors the sequence of commands and warns the system of any potential problems," NASA representatives wrote in a statement. "This helps the system stay safe because it stops working if a problem is detected and works if everything is as planned."